shona_reads_in_devon's Reviews (529)

𝑩𝒆𝒈𝒊𝒏𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒔 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚 𝒆𝒍𝒖𝒔𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒔, 𝒂𝒍𝒎𝒐𝒔𝒕 𝒂𝒔 𝒆𝒍𝒖𝒔𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒂𝒔 𝒕𝒓𝒖𝒆 𝒆𝒏𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒔

𝑳𝒊𝒇𝒆 𝒊𝒔 𝒔𝒖𝒇𝒇𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈. 𝑳𝒊𝒇𝒆 𝒊𝒔 𝒘𝒂𝒓, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒔𝒂𝒄𝒓𝒊𝒇𝒊𝒄𝒆. 𝑳𝒊𝒇𝒆 𝒊𝒔 𝒗𝒊𝒄𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒚.

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This was so great. I'm not even sure I could summarise it as it's so unusual and wild. 

Told from multiple POVs Ninth Rain is set in a really unique and weird world. We've got some really great characters here - a fire-wielding witch, an eccentric human and an Eboran (kind of like an elf? but drinks blood.) We have a witch prison that harvests the power of their fire to make a drug. We've got BATS that are big enough to ride.

There are parasite spirits that turn people inside out, and the history of the Jure'lia - who are TERRIFYING. Like stuff of nightmares (bugs that crawl inside you and eat you from the inside and turn you into a drone).

There's a dead tree god that births dragons and gryphons in times of peril.

Honestly, it's totally wild. And brilliant!

The characters are strong and funny and soft and grumpy and curious and sad. There's a little bit of romance. 

I felt a slight laaaag across a part of the middle but it's barely noticeable really. 

Such a strong opener to this trilogy and I am absolutely going to read the next one, the last 70 or so pages of this were CRAZY.

𝑽𝒆𝒓𝒚 𝒍𝒊𝒕𝒕𝒍𝒆 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒉 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒊𝒔 𝒕𝒂𝒖𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒃𝒚 𝒇𝒆𝒂𝒓.

𝑻𝒐𝒐 𝒍𝒂𝒕𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒂𝒑𝒐𝒍𝒐𝒈𝒊𝐳𝒆, 𝜤'𝒗𝒆 𝒂𝒍𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒅𝒚 𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒈𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒏 𝒚𝒐𝒖.

𝑴𝒚 𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒄𝒆𝒑𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒐𝒇 𝒎𝒚 𝒍𝒊𝒇𝒆 𝒄𝒓𝒂𝒔𝒉𝒆𝒅 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒉𝒊𝒈𝒉 𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒈𝒆𝒅𝒚 𝒕𝒐 𝒋𝒖𝒗𝒆𝒏𝒊𝒍𝒆 𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒇-𝒑𝒊𝒕𝒚 𝒊𝒏 𝒂 𝒎𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒐𝒇 𝒎𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒔.
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I've been gently pestered to start this series for a long time, and what a fool I've been to wait so long.

Poor, dear Fitz. Hobb has a magical way of endearing this boy to you. I think it helped that I have a similarly aged child as Fitz when he starts out on this journey but there's something incredible that kept me from feeling anything but sympathy and a desperate longing for someone to love Fitz like he deserves. I'm not a sucker for a sad boy usually. It drives me nuts, actually. But Hobb balances that tightrope and keeps him on the right side of sympathetic, not pathetic. The supporting cast is detailed and nuanced, no one is flat, everyone feels authentic and complex.

The plot is slow, this isn't a book of action and suspense and thrills. But somehow it took me like a boulder rolling down a hill and I had to keep on going. I'm fully invested in the story and the politics and the action to come, just hinted at.

The world is complex and varied and interesting. We've not remotely scratched the surface of what is going on here with the lore, history and world building and I cannot wait to see where it's all going in the next one.

'𝑳𝒐𝒐𝒌, 𝒊𝒇 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒅𝒐𝒏'𝒕 𝒎𝒂𝒌𝒆 𝒂 𝒇𝒐𝒐𝒍 𝒐𝒇 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒇 𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒂𝒏𝒊𝒎𝒂𝒍𝒔, 𝒂𝒕 𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒕 𝒊𝒏 𝒑𝒓𝒊𝒗𝒂𝒕𝒆, 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒂𝒓𝒆𝒏'𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒃𝒆 𝒕𝒓𝒖𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒅.'

'𝜤𝒇 𝒘𝒆 𝒓𝒂𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒘𝒆 𝒘𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒂𝒅𝒎𝒊𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒐 𝒓𝒖𝒏 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎. 𝜤𝒇 𝒘𝒆 𝒓𝒂𝒏, 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒎𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒄𝒉𝒊𝒍𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒍𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒔 𝒊𝒏 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚 𝒔𝒐𝒍𝒅𝒊𝒆𝒓'𝒔 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒕 𝒌𝒏𝒆𝒘 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒐𝒏𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒈𝒆𝒕 𝒖𝒔.'

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Oh my, I loved this. A lot.

Alex Easton is called to the house of the friends of his youth when he receives a letter that one of them, Maddy, is dying. Something is rotten in the house of Usher and Maddy does not appear to always be herself...

This was gloriously gloomy and uncanny and macabre. And FUNNY! So so funny. Easton is a wonderful narrator and a perfectly drawn character. The whole cast is really quite excellently drawn - from the redoubtable Miss Potter (my fave) to the wonderful Angus. None of them are particularly complex characters but that's not really needed here. Roderick is delightfully erratic, Maddy is hauntingly ethereal. Denton the solid reliable sort required to hold everyone together.

The story was nicely paced, the tone had just enough of the original in its early pages to settle you nicely into the period and I could hear a gloomy recording of Christopher Lee reading The Tale Tell Heart in the tone here early on.

The premise, the final uncovering of what was going on, was horrifying and intriguing and had me recoiling and also considering. I don't want to give more away and spoil but it made me think!

I'm never going to be able to look at a hare in the same way again.

I think Tolstoy is not for me. I really enjoyed Ivan Ilyich but Anna Karenina was a slog. Life is too short to slog through 1200 pages. I think it might be the end of the road for me and Leo.

'𝑭𝒐𝒓 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚 𝒅𝒊𝒔𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆𝒅 𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒐𝒏 𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒅𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒖𝒏𝒄𝒆𝒓𝒕𝒂𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒚 𝒊𝒔 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒂𝒍 𝒕𝒐 𝒉𝒖𝒎𝒂𝒏 𝒆𝒙𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚 𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒊𝒕.'

'𝑻𝒉𝒂𝒕'𝒔 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒆𝒏𝒔 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒐𝒏𝒆 – 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒄𝒂𝒓𝒓𝒚 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒊𝒓 𝒇𝒂𝒄𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒆𝒚𝒆𝒍𝒊𝒅𝒔, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒊𝒓 𝒘𝒉𝒊𝒔𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒊𝒏 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒔, 𝒔𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒏 𝒊𝒏 𝒅𝒆𝒆𝒑 𝒔𝒍𝒆𝒆𝒑, 𝒚𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒔 𝒍𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒓, 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒔𝒆𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒎 𝒊𝒏 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒅𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒎𝒔.'


This is my fourth Elif Shafak, and possibly my favourite so far.

Weaving together three stories across hundreds of years with the history of a small area of Mesopotamia at its centre, Shafak has created another monumental historical epic. 

As always the prose in this is divine. Shafak's writing is pure poetry to me and yet still approachable and readable and well paced.

She creates nuanced, thoughtful characters who, while they embody the themes and ideas she is trying to carry (possibly too many in this one?) they are not overwhelmed by those themes and are not mere signifiers for an idea. They feel organic and spontaneous in creation. 

I loved these stories, and the ideas that they carried. I came away feeling small and insignificant but also strangely comforted. Shafak deals with some tough subjects here and at times this was a really difficult thing to read because it felt so well researched that I felt I was reading real accounts of the Yazidi genocide.

As with all Shafak - I felt pulled to some POVs more than others and I tend to find I prefer Shafak writing about the past rather than the modern era (though I adored Narin's POV, it didn't feel remotely modern in tone). I also felt there were a lot of ideas in this and it felt overwhelming to pull it altogether, though by the end it felt more cohesive as a whole piece.

A beautiful novel, that richly deserves all the praise it has received.

'𝑺𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒑𝒆𝒐𝒑𝒍𝒆 𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒂𝒍 𝒕𝒐 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒚 𝒂𝒍𝒊𝒗𝒆, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒂𝒍 𝒕𝒐 𝒇𝒆𝒆𝒍 𝒂𝒍𝒊𝒗𝒆. 𝑺𝒊𝒎𝒑𝒍𝒆 𝒂𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕.'

'𝑵𝒐 𝑳𝒐𝒏𝒅𝒐𝒏 𝒊𝒔 𝒕𝒓𝒖𝒍𝒚 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒎𝒂𝒈𝒊𝒄'

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Four Londons exist in parallel worlds. The once existing doors between them closed when a black magic destroys one and threatens the wellbeing of the remaining three. Only a select number of people, Antari, have the magic to be able to move between the three. When an Antari, Kell, comes into possession of a relic from dead Black London, all remaining realms are at risk of being destroyed by the powerful source of magic. Can Kell control the magic, or will it take control of him?

I had no expectations about this book and I had a really great time reading it.

Kell and Lila are really fun protagonists, they are lively and spirited and fun to read. I also loved Rhy and had a worrying soft spot for Holland (but Daddy I love him). 

The world building was *so* unique, such a great concept - I've read a lot of parallel universe stories recently and this one does it well. I'd like more though, it's very geographically limited *within* each realm, though obviously our temporal geography is much greater. But I wanted more world. This is a series, so hopefully more to come.

The writing is snappy. The chapters are short. It's a super digestible read. 

My only issue really, and it's a personal one and nothing to do with the quality of the book - I really dislike mistaken identities. Like I hate when people body swap. It brings me out in a cold sweat and I don't usually find it enjoyable. It wasn't a huge part of this but parts of the plot did hinge on it which I don't love.

Really recommend if you're looking for a unique concept and something quick and attention grabbing.

This was a great read. 

I am quite well versed in lots of this history already (and living the modern parts!) so much of this is not new to me.

However, it was brilliantly researched and well structured. The earlier parts suffered a little from being a bit all over the place but this can be the nature of writing about women in periods where significant evidence is missing or never existed in the first place.

I really loved the efforts to delineate the gradual devaluing of domestic work. 

I felt the ending became a bit more vitriolic and lost that measured analysis - understandable given this is the life women are currently living in this country and it's not changed nearly enough even in the last 100 years but a shame as it had managed to maintain a cool head up until then. I thought the afterword was unnecessarily repetitive. 

But the book as a whole was lively, I enjoyed the narration from Phillipa Gregory and if you are not well versed in the almost millennia long developments of women's lives in the country, then I can think of no better place to start than here.

I never would have picked this book up in a million years. It was my book club read and I was grumbling a little about making time for it.

How brilliant it is to be proven wrong.

Yes, it was a little sentimental, it isn't winning any prizes for twists and turns or high action. It glosses over the more uncomfortable elements of modern communities and the social problems within them. But that's fine, this books isn't about the gritty reality of London. What it is, is a tender story about community. About memory, about childhood, about the places that we grow up in and hold on to. 

Rosemary's story of her life with George isn't spectacular. It's a quietly happy life in a community that she loves and treasures and that she has put into and it has given back to her. 

This novel is a gentle shout out against neoliberalism, and aggressive capitalist individualism and a reminder about what community provides. 

I really really loved this novel so very much. 

'𝑺𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒎𝒆𝒏 […] 𝒄𝒉𝒐𝒐𝒔𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒔𝒆𝒆𝒌 𝒈𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒏𝒆𝒔𝒔, 𝒘𝒉𝒊𝒍𝒆 𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒄𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒊𝒕. 𝜤𝒕 𝒊𝒔 𝒂𝒍𝒘𝒂𝒚𝒔 𝒃𝒆𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒐 𝒄𝒉𝒐𝒐𝒔𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒏 𝒕𝒐 𝒃𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒄𝒆𝒅.
𝑨 𝒎𝒂𝒏 𝒘𝒉𝒐 𝒊𝒔 𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒄𝒆𝒅 𝒊𝒔 𝒏𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒑𝒍𝒆𝒕𝒆𝒍𝒚 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒐𝒘𝒏 𝒎𝒂𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒓. 𝑯𝒆 𝒎𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒅𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒔𝒆 𝒘𝒉𝒐 𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒄𝒆𝒅 𝒉𝒊𝒎.'

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I really really enjoyed the first book, it was a bit spoiled by that ending. Jordan's fixed it this time!

I'm finding it hard to rate these books because I know there's a whole body of work coming and I don't wanna start giving out all the stars straight out the door. But I did love this one too.

I had a gap between this and the first one and it definitely impacted on my enjoyment and my understanding. You could very easily take notes reading this book. I think the plot remains comprehensible without jotting things down but I like to try and go deeper, make theories and draw threads and connections. I like spotting Easter eggs even if I'm not sure what they are linked to. I'm going to try and read with less space between them from now on.

I've drawn closer to these characters. I love Rand and Perrin. Mat, I'm still holding out for the people who say I will love him eventually...? Nynaeve does my head in but possibly only because she's too like me for comfort. I love the sisterhood between Nynaeve, Egwene, Elayne and Min. 

The story is starting to feel mega. I knew the scale was big but it feels it now. I'm nervous for Rand and these big threads of destiny that he is involved in. The end of this one was excellent. It's not a big cliffhanger that has you grabbing for the next one but it was more cohesive, better paced, better explained and all round just a huge improvement on the mess of book one's ending.

I remain ALL IN for Wheel of Time!

'𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒚 𝒊𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒃𝒚 𝒘𝒉𝒊𝒄𝒉 𝜤'𝒍𝒍 𝒄𝒂𝒕𝒄𝒉 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒔𝒄𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑲𝒊𝒏𝒈'

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I read Enter Ghost as part of Read Palestinian April and it was a fantastic book to read to explore the idea of Palestine as a concept as well as an identity.

Focused on, and told from the perspective of Sonia, Enter Ghost is a vehicle for all kinds of nuanced explorations of personal and national identity,  resistance, art as resistance and family dynamics. It's a beautifully complex novel which threads in the production of Hamlet to great effect.

I cannot do justice to the layers of identity Hammad works with here, the concepts of national unity opposed to disparate and diasporic (is that a word) experiences of 'being' Palestinian. The novel's strengths, to me, lie in the study of these concepts and the literary conceit of the production of Hamlet as a way to dig further.

Where the novel really didn't work for me was Sonia. She was really quite annoying. I'm sure it was for a reason but she did my head in and not in a way that was fruitful. She was so full of her own self importance. She had moments of development where I thought she might be saved but then resorted back to her own navel-gazing. I was very fed up with her by the end. And because we see all others through her, all the other characters suffered in turn. I didn't feel anything for any of the characters particularly, except Mariam, and that was only because Sonia was such a douchebag to her it was almost a reflex.

I would recommend this book though. Sonia is just the sort of character that rubs me up the wrong way, and probably if this was third person, I might have found it less oppressive to read.